WATE reporting TSR to shut down

[bigdaddy]

Lots of people say that, but I disagree. Local radio has taken its hits, but it still dominates in cars.

The model won't change until ad agencies change the way they do business, and I don't see that happening, especially in major cities.

I can't tell you the last time I listened to local radio. It's all streaming or XM for me

 

[drvenner]

How weren't they making money? They had the best UT sports radio.

They weren't making money because there are too many idiots in the local market who think that 990 is the only game in town. There is nothing worse than Doc Jeff and Heather in the morning. But, local yokels are too ignorant and I think some of them believe that because 990 broadcasts the games, then it must be the official radio station for Tennessee coverage for everything else.

 

[drvenner]

They don't count toward ratings, no. The Arbitron (recently bought by Nielsen, the company that has long done TV ratings) ratings that measure radio listenership are based completely on live listening to over-the-air radio.

TSR tried something different, knowing that their over-the-air signal was very weak, they focused a lot on promoting the higher-quality audio of the app. They did decent numbers with their online and app listenership, but it's difficult to sell those numbers for advertisers for a couple of reasons.

First, the ad agencies that buy most radio and TV ads for their clients won't buy off of anything but hard ratings numbers. So that's an entire segment of companies that just aren't buying the station. Second, it's difficult to sell local companies on online numbers, because those numbers could be coming from anywhere in the world. Their online platform wasn't able to measure location for a very long time, and they tried to sell advertisers on total web hits, rather than unique hits. Where that becomes important is on the app. If you're driving around town and hit a bad cell spot, it'll disconnect you, even if its for just a second. With the metrics they were using, when it reconnected, even if it was only off for a second, it gave them another total hit.

Even with good online numbers and decent response when they would have station remotes, they still couldn't charge ad rates that made them money. Talk radio is expensive to operate because of all the people necessary. They had, at a given time, 7-8 on-air employees. The amount of ads you would have to sell just to stay afloat is astronomical. The owner sunk a lot of his own money in to keep it going, then took on investors. Eventually, the investors wanted a return. They weren't getting it with sports talk. They can with music because an automated satellite-fed oldies station is basically free to run. Agree to carry the 4 minutes of national ads that come off the satellite and you can have the programming for free and you get 8 minutes of ads an hour to sell. It's virtually impossible to lose money with that setup.

I owned a business that advertised with them for awhile over a year ago. We quit for reasons too long to get into, but I was always rooting for them to make it, even though I found it difficult to believe that they would. I knew the numbers involved. I sold my business, partly so I could split time between here and another city for a relationship, so I know what Jason is going through to get back to his family in Cookeville. I hope things work out for everyone involved.

Great insight. Thank you.

 

[MannyD]

TSR has a weak signal and the production bad. Ainge and JayBay would get wrapped up in two straight minutes of an inside joke while on the air coming out of almost every commercial break. Content sucked for the most part. Swain was ok, but he's not cut out for radio. Not a fan of Stokes. Hooker is a ginger, 'nuff said. Nothing personal against them. Hate to see them lose their jobs. Different strokes and all, but that stuff was bad, bad radio.

 

[VOLINVONORE]

TSR has a weak signal and the production bad. Ainge and JayBay would get wrapped up in two straight minutes of an inside joke while on the air coming out of almost every commercial break. Content sucked for the most part. Swain was ok, but he's not cut out for radio. Not a fan of Stokes. Hooker is a ginger, 'nuff said. Nothing personal against them. Hate to see them lose their jobs. Different strokes and all, but that stuff was bad, bad radio.

I think their largest problem was the signal strength of their station. There are many places in Knoxville where you can not get their signal. Those of us who live 30-40 mlles away have no chance to get their signal except through their app. I have removed their app from may phone and I am sure many others have done. They may have not be the best in the Country, but they were the best sports show in East Tennessee.

 

[WallyBalls]

Lots of people say that, but I disagree. Local radio has taken its hits, but it still dominates in cars.

The model won't change until ad agencies change the way they do business, and I don't see that happening, especially in major cities.

Do you know if "The Book" (Arbitron or whoever it is) still works like it used to? Is it still paper logs or have they moved on to something more accurate?

Several years ago, brother hosted a morning drive show on a small music station for about 3 years (about 6 total if you count his time on a non-profit religious AM). I remember being surprised when he told me ratings were just people keeping a logbook of what they listened to.

 

[PeytonBerry]

Any word on Ainge/Swain finding a landing spot?

I think it would be great if they took over for Doc, Jeff, and Heather (or at least replaced a couple of them).

 

[bigdaddy]

Any word on Ainge/Swain finding a landing spot?

I think it would be great if they took over for Doc, Jeff, and Heather (or at least replaced a couple of them).

Last I heard Ainge is pretty much done with radio unless he does a Sunday show and Swain is on another am station after 1180 changes

 

[WallyBalls]

Any word on Ainge/Swain finding a landing spot?

I think it would be great if they took over for Doc, Jeff, and Heather (or at least replaced a couple of them).

Ainge is getting out of radio.

Swain and Stokes will move to a morning slot on 850am, I believe. The TSR app will update to become the "Swain Event" app.


WNML would never touch them, but you make a good point. Knoxville really could use a different, non-Animal station. Basilio is Basilio and fills to small of a niche to really do that.

Hopefully Swain finds success.

 

[PeytonBerry]

I wonder what Ainge is going to do career wise?

 

[WallyBalls]

I'm assuming sales or something similar. I think he made some decent contacts while at TSR.

 

[PeterNincompoop]

Do you know if "The Book" (Arbitron or whoever it is) still works like it used to? Is it still paper logs or have they moved on to something more accurate?

Several years ago, brother hosted a morning drive show on a small music station for about 3 years (about 6 total if you count his time on a non-profit religious AM). I remember being surprised when he told me ratings were just people keeping a logbook of what they listened to.

There's been a slow(costly) shift, starting in larger markets, to PPM's, or Portable People Meters. I don't know all of the specifics or markets currently using them, as it's not been anything I've looked into in quite a while. But if I remember correctly, it was essentially a small device, much like old pagers or beepers, that a person could wear that would track what they were listening to, eliminating the paper diaries. But, I believe that Knoxville is still a logbook market for tracking ratings. Moreover, they are VERY skewed. For instance, if 100 diaries are sent to a certain area or zip code, but only a handful are actually filled out and returned, that small handful of returns are weighted to equal out to the 100 sent out. It's pretty archaic and in dire need of revamping.

 

[WallyBalls]

There's been a slow(costly) shift, starting in larger markets, to PPM's, or Portable People Meters. I don't know all of the specifics or markets currently using them, as it's not been anything I've looked into in quite a while. But if I remember correctly, it was essentially a small device, much like old pagers or beepers, that a person could wear that would track what they were listening to, eliminating the paper diaries. But, I believe that Knoxville is still a logbook market for tracking ratings. Moreover, they are VERY skewed. For instance, if 100 diaries are sent to a certain area or zip code, but only a handful are actually filled out and returned, that small handful of returns are weighted to equal out to the 100 sent out. It's pretty archaic and in dire need of revamping.

You ain't kidding about the logbooks being skewed. I know one year his showed randomly popped up as 3rd in the market and had barely been a blip before. Come to find out 3 church members that knew him dutifully filled out their books with his show listed almost every day.

He guessed they had a pitiful amount sent back in and his show was the beneficiary.

 

[Burger]

So in summary, J-Bay mismanaged the station. I'm not surprised about that. He's an idiot. Marketing and technology improvements could of changed the game.

 

[SDV]

So in summary, J-Bay mismanaged the station. I'm not surprised about that. He's an idiot. Marketing and technology improvements could of changed the game.

I always found him thoroughly obnoxious on the air. Came across as a non-athletic nerd who put himself on the Ainge show as a co-host just because he ran the place and wanted to sit by the cool guy. I always thought that show would've done better without him.

 

[DeerPark12]

So in summary, J-Bay mismanaged the station. I'm not surprised about that. He's an idiot. Marketing and technology improvements could of changed the game.

Though I had some issues with our business relationship, I don't think he mismanaged the station at all. I think he had a model that was ultimately unsustainable, but I don't think a lot of management decisions could have made the outcome any different. I think it's remarkable that it did as well as it did with the obstacles their signal had.

An AM station with that signal and having to power down at night, preventing them from running lucrative national programming on nights and weekends is fighting an uphill battle.

 

[BenGrimm]

I think their largest problem was the signal strength of their station. There are many places in Knoxville where you can not get their signal. Those of us who live 30-40 mlles away have no chance to get their signal except through their app. I have removed their app from may phone and I am sure many others have done. They may have not be the best in the Country, but they were the best sports show in East Tennessee.

You know they are on until the end of the month right? Then the app is switching to The Swain Event.

 

[BenGrimm]

I always found him thoroughly obnoxious on the air. Came across as a non-athletic nerd who put himself on the Ainge show as a co-host just because he ran the place and wanted to sit by the cool guy. I always thought that show would've done better without him.

I always likes Jason. He and Ainge would veer off at times but it was still more entertaining than listening to SA.

I could do without Stokes though. I rarely listened to Hookers show so I don't have much of an opinion on him or Durago.

 

[Jackcrevol]

They weren't making money...what's there to get?

No TSR. That's what not to get, Le Duh!